


Together

by Rionaa



Series: Since She Went Away [3]
Category: Wolfblood (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 12:12:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3977575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rionaa/pseuds/Rionaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened after Maddy and Rhydian were reunited.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

For the first few days after being made the leader of the wild pack, Rhydian was too weak to leave the cave. He had lost a lot of blood from his wound, but he hated having to be so still. Maddy was at his side almost constantly, only leaving to find food for the two of them and attend to more... Personal matters. 

Rhydian was frequently consulted by one or more of the packs elders concerning matters he knew or cared little about. Then one morning, a young beta male strode into the cave.

"Before he left in pursuit of this one," he glanced at Maddy, "our old alpha had commanded us to keep the other prisoners safe pending their execution. The decision as to their punishment lies now with you." Maddy gasped. Her parents? Rhydian frowned as well.

"Who are these prisoners? What was their crime?" The beta wolfblood explained what Maddy and her parents had done. Maddy looked down at the floor. If she'd known her parents hadn't managed to escape, she would have gone to look for them sooner.

"Bring them to me." Rhydian ordered.

"As you wish." The beta wolfblood bowed out of the cave.

"Maddy?" Rhydian looked at her, concerned. "Is that..." she nodded.

"If I'd known they hadn't made it out... I should have been clearer..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay! Its okay, you can see them now. Its going to be alright." She nodded and hiccupped slightly. "Can you help me sit up?" She nodded and with an arm around his shoulders, hoisted him gently upright. He winced as he settled into position. "Thank you." She smiled at him, just as three wild wolfbloods entered, leading roughly by their bound wrists, Maddy's parents.

Maddy was half hidden behind Rhydian, so he was the first person they saw. Both their faces registered blank shock.

"Rhydian?"


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you..." Maddy had stepped out from behind Rhydian, into the light cast through the mouth of the cave. Emma's hand flew to her mouth, and both she and Dan made as though to go to their daughter, but the wolfbloods on either side of them restrained them.

"Let them go." Ordered Rhydian. The wild wolfbloods did so without question. Emma and Dan ran to their daughter and hugged her tightly.

"Mam, Dad... I'm alright... Thanks to Rhydian..." Both the Smith parents turned to Rhydian with tears in their eyes.

"You saved her?" He looked down, embarrassed. "Thank you... But, what were you doing here in the first place?" Rhydian explained about how he had seen Maddy in a sort of dream and come running as soon as he was able. Once he had finished, Emma posed another question.

"But are you going to stay here as an alpha?"

"Well right now, I dont think I've got a lot of choice..." Rhydian replied, dryly. Dan chuckled, then quickly stopped at a look from his wife.

"No, I don't suppose you do..."

"But once you're healed properly, what will you do then?" 

"I'm staying with Maddy. Whatever she does, I'll do. And... It's safe now... Back in Stoneybridge... You could come home." Maddy looked at him keenly at those words.

"You never told me that!"

"I forgot..." Said Rhydian, sheepishly. 

"How... Why..." Dan failed to articulate his question.

"Dr. Whitewood is on our side. Segolia offered her a place to work alongside wolfbloods instead of against them. It's safe." Maddy and her parents looked at one another, ecstatic.

"We can go home!"

"But what will you tell the wild wolfbloods?" Emma asked after a while. Rhydian frowned. He hasn't thought of this.

"What do you think their reaction would be if I told them we were leaving?" He asked.

"At best, banishment from the pack..." Emma stopped.

"And at worst?" Rhydian prompted.

"Execution." Dan replied. Maddy and Rhydian looked at each other.

"So... We sneak away at night?" Maddy suggested.

"And risk being tracked by an entire pack of wolfbloods?" Emma asked, sceptically. Maddy shook her head, crossly.

"Never mind then."

"We've got a while to think of a plan anyway, like Rhydian said, he's not going anywhere for a while..." Piped up Dan. Emma nodded thoughtfully. Just then, a healer entered the cave, carrying a jar of salve for Rhydian's wound. Rhydian grimaced as she applied it.

 

"Stings..." He muttered.

 

"Good, that means it's working!" Said the healer, brightly. Rhydian chuckled.

 

"It doesn't smell too good either..." She simply smiled at that and continued applying the ointment.

 

"You should be able to walk in a few days, but nothing too strenuous, or you'll reopen the wound!" She warned him as she left. Rhydian looked at the Smiths excitedly.

 

"Did you hear that? A few days, she said!"

 

"Nothing too strenuous, she said." Maddy put a hand on his shoulder. "It shouldn't be too long, though, maybe a couple of weeks."

 

"A couple of weeks?" Rhydian groaned. "I can't wait that long! Being an alpha is no fun." Maddy laughed.

 

"Not when you don't want it to be fun... If we're going to be here for a while, why not let me be your alpha female?" Rhydian stared at her, unsure of what she was proposing. "Oh come on, just temporarily!" 

 

"Right, yeah, r-right, temporarily..." He muttered. Maddy grinned at him, knowing what her words had done to him. 

He smiled back, suddenly sleepy. Something in the salve the healers were giving him always had this effect. He yawned, then tried to stifle it. Maddy pushed him back onto the bed and drew the furs over him as his eyes closed, smiling down at him as she did so.

 

Once Maddy had made sure Rhydian was asleep, she and her parents left the cave. Very early on, Rhydian had ensured that Maddy was safe wherever she went within the pack's territory. She hoped that protection would automatically extend to her parents.

Daniel chuckled.

"Nice one, Maddy." He grinned at her. She grinned back, uncertainly.

"Mam, Dad, I was wondering, when we get back home, can Rhydian live with us? Like, forever?" Emma and Dan exchanged glances.

"Well..." Emma began, but was cut off by Dan.

"It's not that simple, Maddy. You see-"

"WHY NOT?" Maddy yelled. "We're old enough, well, nearly, why shouldn't we live together?" Dan looked at Emma, questioningly.

"Because..." Emma stalled.

"Because what?" Maddy began, "I'm not a cub anymore, I'm a wolf and I can do what I want! And all I want is Rhydian, and you're taking that away from me!' She turned and stalked off. Dan turned to Emma and raised his eyebrows.

"Did you say anything about taking him away? I didn't say anything about taking him away..."

"Let her calm down, she's had a very emotional time." Dan scoffed.

"Emotional. I'll say! Look, why don't we-"

"No." Emma fixed him with her gaze, her eyes turning yellow. He backed down.

"Fine." He turned and followed his daughter back to the cave.

 

Maddy was still fuming when they walked in, but she didn't shout at them in case she woke Rhydian. Instead she turned her back and pretended to be examining something on the wall.

Her parents sighed and almost at the same moment, transformed into wolves and lay down on the ground to sleep. Neither of then had slept properly in days. Maddy looked over at them reluctantly and smiled. Carefully, she picked up an unused blanket and draped it over the two of them before carefully climbing into bed beside Rhydian. Still smiling, she fell asleep with the comforting warmth beside her.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Rhydian's health improved steadily, although he was frustrated at how slowly developments happened. He was now able to walk short distances, leaning heavily on Maddy. 

She had taken him outside to present himself in front of the entire pack. Some members of the pack had been beginning to show restlessness at the continued lack of an alpha presence.

When Rhydian had appeared before them, wrapped in furs, many of the pack had refused to bow outright. Rhydian looked on helplessly until Maddy took her place beside them and roared, "THIS IS YOUR LEADER, YOUR ALPHA, AND YOU WILL SHOW HIM THE RESPECT HE DESERVES!" After that, not one of the wild wolfbloods dared stand disrespectfully before Rhydian. 

Maddy grinned at him. He grinned back.

"That was amazing!" She laughed.

"I told you being an alpha can be fun when you want it to be!"

 

After that, Rhydian enjoyed appearing before the pack a bit more.

After a couple of weeks, Rhydian was able to walk on his own, though not for as long as he would have liked.

"You said it would have been healed by now!" He accused Maddy.

"That was an estimate. It shouldn't be too long now though, you're doing really well..." He nodded.

"I can't wait to go home..." She put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It won't be long now, I've got a plan." He looked up in surprise.

"You do?" She nodded and began to explain her plan.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Rhydian was able to walk without support, it was almost the full moon, and time to put Maddy's plan into action. 

Rhydian addressed the entire pack for the first time on the day of the full moon.

“As your new leader, I have to go through an initiation ceremony, both into the leadership and into the pack, as do the uh, the Smiths.” He gestured awkwardly behind him to where Maddy and her parents stood. “I also have to announce my successor. I have already reached that decision, and so in the event of my death, banishment or any other reason why I may not continue my leadership, Máedóc shall be your leader instead.” The beta wolf stood up in surprise, then turned to face the pack, his fist across his heart. The pack cheered. This was worrying to Maddy. Rhydian was stalling.

“However,” Maddy raised her voice over the noise of the wolfbloods around, “The four of us will need to spend the day apart from the rest of the pack, to ready ourselves for the ceremony, which will take place before moonrise.” Rhydian nodded in agreement.

“So, our preparation ritual shall begin now. The next time I address you all, I shall be your leader, or I shall have perished from the tasks ahead!” the pack roared in unison and Rhydian gulped. This had better work.

Rhydian and the Smiths turned and walked through the trees towards the river.

“Are you sure about this?” Rhydian stopped Maddy before she went any further. She nodded.

“Yes! But we have to do this quickly.” 

“Okay.” The four of them stepped into the river. It was deeper than it looked, but this was to their advantage. Maddy and Rhydian exchanged glances, then transformed. Emma and Dan did the same. Then they stepped out into the middle of the river and began to swim, downriver, with the flow.

They swam with the river for about an hour before Emma stopped them suddenly, sniffing the air. The others sniffed too, trying to find what she had smelled. 

A single wolfblood was standing as a sentry by the bank of the river on the edge of the territory. Maddy looked around at Rhydian and her parents, as though saying “follow my lead”, took a deep breath, and dived.

The current was much stronger below the surface of the river, and more turbulent. She let herself be carried downstream, trying not to move, hoping the others had realised what she was doing and followed suit. After almost a minute, she thought she had passed the sentry by, and began to swim back towards the surface, her lungs bursting. 

Suddenly, an eddy in the current caught her by surprise and whipped her back down. She panicked, struggling, kicking out against the water, her heart beating frantically, trying to pump non-existant oxygen around her body. Just as she was about to give up, darkness flooding her vision, a strong hand grasped her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her out of the water. 

She gasped, filling her burning lungs with air, panicked tears mingling with the river water on her face as she leaned against the person who had saved her.

Rhydian held her tightly as she clung to him. He could hear her heartbeat, much louder and faster than usual as she drew a shaky breath.

“Thank you...” She breathed. He smiled back.

“Not at all.” she transformed back into the wolf, and they continues their journey downstream, Maddy sticking closer to Rhydian's side.


	5. Chapter 5

Rhydian had plenty of time to think as they swam down the river. Being with the wild pack, he hadn’t really thought much about why he was there, or anything that had happened to him. It had all seemed so unreal, so distant. But now that they were escaping, his mind seemed clearer. He looked at Maddy, swimming strongly beside him, and his heart twisted. He had almost lost her, twice. He looked back to the moment, just minutes ago, where he had resurfaced past the wolfblood sentry, and realised she wasn’t with him. He had searched frantically until he located her, then pulled her out of the water, his own heart beating just as fast as hers.

Suddenly, Maddy let out a bark of delight and began to swim more frantically down the river, to catch up with her parents. Rhydian joined her, then a sudden pain in his side made him stop and let the current take him. Maddy turned and struggled against the flow of the river until he had caught up with her. She nuzzled at his shoulder anxiously. He looked at her and panted, trying to make her understand that he was alright. She swam with him until they reached the bank where her parents were waiting for them, in human form.

“I think we're almost there.” Emma said with a smile.

“Almost where?” Rhydian questioned her.

“Anywhere! There's a human town or village up ahead, we might be able to make it back to Stonybridge from there!” Maddy frowned.

“The moon's almost risen,” She said, pointedly, “We'll have to wait until morning.” Rhydian nodded in agreement, suddenly tired. Wolfbloods didn't normally get tired on a full moon, but they had spent almost a whole day swimming frantically to get away from the wolf pack, and Rhydian was still weaker than usual on account of his injury. He returned to wolf form, slightly ahead of the moon, and flopped down onto the bank.

That full moon was one of the tensest Maddy had ever experienced. While Rhydian slept, unusual for a wolfblood on the full moon, Maddy and her parents prowled around him, howling at the moon, wishing day would come.

When dawn finally broke, it met the sight of Maddy and her parents pacing up and down the bank, now back in human form. Maddy woke rhydian with a gentle shake of the shoulder. He woke with a start and leapt to his feet. 

“Maddy? What is it?” she giggled.

“Sun's up! We're going home!” she hugged him tightly. To his surprise, it caused him no pain. His wound had healed overnight! He grinned and hugged her back. Then, the four wolfbloods turned and walked towards the village, the sunrise still shining in the sky as the left the forest, and the wild pack, behind them.


End file.
